


Red Alert’s Story

by Starscream10203



Series: When Refusing to Lose [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-12 18:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20568719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starscream10203/pseuds/Starscream10203
Summary: So, Lytherium10 brought up that they would like to see Red Alert’s backstory in my AU for When Refusing to Lose, You’ll Win Eventually, and I thought, why the heck not! It was fun!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this will be tying in to my other story, When Refusing to Lose, You’ll Win Eventually. Hope you guys enjoy!

He was being watched again, he knew it. The little light on the camera was blinking, though that was nothing new. It was always blinking. But someone was watching, he could just feel it. He laced his digits together and placed his servos in his lap, back ramrod straight as he sat on the edge of his berth. If he stayed perfectly still and quiet, then his creators couldn’t find reason to punish him. How can you be bad when you were literally doing nothing?

His optics darted towards the door when he heard someone’s pede steps, but they passed by his room and didn’t enter. Glancing at the chronometer embedded in the wall, he took note of the time. Probably just one of the House servants going to clean. It frustrated him that they never stuck to a schedule. Sometimes they would walk by three clicks ahead of time, or seven behind. It was maddening. 

He had six more joor to wait before Inferno would be out of his classes. He would then come to him about two more joor after that, once he’d walked home and spent some time with his carrier. Brightfire was a lovely femme, and Red Alert envied his friend sometimes. Sometimes he wondered if he loved his own carrier as much as he did Brightfire. He didn’t think so.

Pede steps again, and he was startled to realize that nearly half a joor had gone by without his notice. He checked his posture and corrected himself from the slight slump he’d dropped into. The walking stopped outside of his door. Jumping down as the door was unlocked and opened, he stood to attention and waited to be acknowledged. 

His tutor sneered down at him as he relocked the door behind himself. In one of his servos he held a collection of datapads that would be used for the orns lesson. The other held his favorite switch. Red Alert gulped and bowed.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Sit down and start by reciting Primus’ Code.”

And so his day began. Red Alert already couldn’t wait for it to be over. 

*****

Red Alert bit back a yelp as the switch cracked down a fifth time across his upturned palms. Tears ran down his face and he bit the inside of his mouth so hard he tasted energon. 

“Wrong again, Red Alert! How your creators expect me to be able to teach a youngling so stupid is anyone’s guess! If you can’t even remember what we discussed yesterorn, how are you supposed to be expected to handle an estate once you reach adulthood? We are finishing early today, and I expect you to be a fragging  _ expert _ on processor anatomy tomorrow. If you aren’t you better hope Primus has mercy on you because I’ll flay your little backside so bad you won’t be able to sit for decacycles!”

With that, he swept out of the room, leaving Red Alert alone to weep. 

Once he’d collected himself, Red Alert settled down at his desk and onlined the data pad with shaking servos. At least his tutor hadn’t seen fit to whip his aft. He dreaded to imagine what it would be like to try to sit and study after that. He glanced at the chronometer. Inferno would be getting back about now. Sighing, he focused on his work. It seemed he wouldn’t get to play with his friend after all.

He reviewed what he been given the orn before, cursing himself for not knowing the material better. He  _ had _ studied, but someone had passed his door the night before and he’d heard an unfamiliar voice. He’d then spent the rest of the night trying to figure out if it had been an intruder. He’d barely recharged at the thought of some random mech coming in and finding him. His audial nubs sparked painfully at the thought.

He flinched when a knock sounded at the door, panic settling in for a moment as he stared at the door. No one was scheduled to visit him. Who was it?

He calmed once Inferno came in.

“Hi, Red Alert!” Inferno chirped, “Carrier said she could hear your tutor shouting all the way down in the kitchen, so she figured it had been a rough orn for you. I brought some nanite gel for your servos.”

He held up a small tin and a pain patch. 

Red Alert smiled, and hopped down from his chair. A small break wouldn’t offline anyone. 

Red Alert sat quietly as his friend slotted the pain patch into his arm and set to work coating his palms. He listened as Inferno told him stories about his orn at school. Red Alert wished he could go too. He wondered what it was like to be surrounded by so many other mechanisms. He knew better though. If his glitch started acting up, he’d be a laughingstock, and his family would be shamed. His creators would never allow it.

Red Alert had met Inferno not long after the mechling and his carrier had been hired on. His carrier had been put in charge of keeping the upper floor clean, where he lived. He’d met her first, born ago when he’d been much younger, barely out of his first frame. His glitch had been acting up badly, and she’d heard his screaming. Rushing in, she managed to calm him down, which had been nearly impossible before.

Once his creators had seen her success in keeping him quiet, he’d been added to her duties in a way. She was to keep him quiet and calm at night. Red Alert had grown used to her coming in before he went into recharge to hold him and tell stories. That’s how he’d met Inferno. While a bit older than him, they’d shared a common berthtime. Brightfire had started to bring him along to listen to the stories as well. 

Red Alert had not taken kindly to losing his one on one time with the femme at first, and they’d begun to compete for her attention. Red Alert had gotten worse, his glitch acting up more and more as he tried to come up with ways to keep Brightfire with him. Inferno had fought back just as hard, and they’d ended up screaming at each other one night. 

That’s how Red Alert’s creators had found them. Inferno had been returned to his carrier for the night, and once they’d been alone, Red Alert’s sire had given him a beating to remember. Inferno had come back a few orn later, ready to continue the fight for his carrier as usual, until he’d seen Red Alert’s back. 

Unable to get up for the pain, Red Alert had simply given in.

“You can have her,” he’d said, “A true noble mech isn’t supposed to get into petty fights in the first place.” 

Inferno had never felt so guilty in his life. He started visiting Red Alert after that, trying to keep the other mechling company as he recovered. They grew closer, and eventually it had been decided that they could both live with sharing Brightfire. 

Now, Inferno visited almost every orn. It was usually the best part of Red Alert’s orn. 

Once Inferno had finished with his servos, he pulled out a datapad from his subspace. It was a fiction story that he’d been reading with his class. Together they sat on Red Alert’s berth and read. Red Alert laid his helm on his friend’s shoulder and smiled as Inferno tipped his own on top of his. As long as he had his friend, everything would be alright.

*****

He did t often get to see his creators. Normally when they came to his room, it was because he’d fragged up. When his carrier stepped through his door, he’d been surprised. The true shock, however, had come once he’d noticed his carriers midsection. 

“You’re carrying again?” he asked.

His carrier simply rolled his optics. 

“Really, Red Alert, it’s impolite to state obvious things. Of course I’m carrying again. Now tell me, how are your lessons coming along?”

Red Alert glanced away, tucking his still healing servos behind his back. He’d managed to memorize what he’d needed to for that lesson to avoid having his aft switched, but only because Inferno had stayed with him most of the night cycle helping him study. The only thing was, did Carrier know that? Sometimes, his creators would ask him questions that they already knew the answer to, just to catch him in a lie. Sometimes, he managed to get away with it. He studied his carriers face, not seeing any more disdain than usual, and no anger. 

“I’m doing well, Carrier. My tutor is pleased with my progress,” he said. 

His spark all but leapt up into his mouth when his carrier smirked down at him. 

“Good. I hope to hear the same from him when we discuss your progress later tonight over dinner.”

And with that, he was gone, door locked firmly back behind him. Red Alert agonized over it for the rest of the afternoon. His helm sparked as he paced. His only relief was when Inferno came to visit. He’d sobbed all over his friend, fear of whatever his creators where planning for him taking over. He’d no doubt be caught in a lie. He didn’t want to imagine the coming beating. 

Eventually, the time for Inferno to go help his carrier finish up for the night came, and he pulled away reluctantly, promising Red Alert he’d try to find something out and warn him. With that, he was gone.

Red Alert didn’t take his nightly meal, too wound up to even think of eating. So when it came time for him to recharge, he lay down and stared at the ceiling, tense. He hadn’t realized he’d fallen into recharge until Inferno was there, shaking him awake and calling his designation. 

“What is it? Why are you here so late? Inferno?!”

But his friend wasn’t making sense. Cupping his face, Inferno pulls him close.

“You’ve got to get out of here, Red. Your creators are going to get rid of you!”

“What do you mean?”

“I was listening in on them talking. Your carrier just went to the medic, and they’ve confirmed that the sparkling is a mechling. They’re going to send you to an asylum for glitched bots! They’re coming now!”

Red Alert pushed his friends servos off of his face.

“That’s crazy talk, ‘ferno. I’m still their firstborn. They can’t just get  _ rid _ of me! They might hate me, but there’s rules about firstborns.”

Then they heard the pedesteps down the hall. Both stared at the door, waiting to see if the mech would pass. 

They didn’t. 

The door slammed open and mecha poured in, more than Red Alert had ever seen together in one place. Inferno screamed, rushing one of them, and was promptly slammed across the helm with the butt of a rifle. He crumpled to the floor. Red Alert shouted his friend’s designation, leaping off the berth to go to him, but was caught around the middle but the second mech. 

He was wrestled to the ground, and he screamed when he felt an inhibitor claw snap around his back. Sparks flew from his helm and he threw back his helm and wailed in pain.

“Primus, they were right! This one is definitely glitched in the helm! Get methat sedative!” one of them shouted over the noise.

He felt a pin prick on his neck, and the world began to blur. He saw Inferno’s limp form as they moved him out of the room. He heard Brightfire’s scream. The last thing he saw before it all went black, was his carrier. His servo was splayed over his midsection, and he was smiling.

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got back to this! Hope y'all enjoy!

_ Six Vorn Later _

Red Alert sat quietly in the tub, staring at the wall. The solvent was cold, and he shivered slightly, but he didn’t dare voice his discomfort. He’d learned from experience that complaining only earned him ‘something to  _ really  _ cry about’. The mech in the tub next to him sobbed quietly. The metal cuffs were uncomfortably tight, but he was never allowed to bathe himself, instead having to wait for the nurse to finish with every other mech in the bathing room. 

He was thankful that he was always first, for two reasons. First, his solvent was still warm when he was cleaned, and second, it gave him time to work at the loose screw that he’d discovered just underneath his left servo a few cycles back. 

He had to work as slowly as possible, to keep his movements to a minimum, his optics tracking the overly friendly nurse bathing the mech across the room. The mech was awfully handsy, but if he suspected anyone of any mischief he would have you out of the bath for a whipping in no time. Red Alert couldn’t allow for that, and so he’d been inching this screw out of its place for megacycles. 

He was watching the last mech’s bath finish up, shaking harder as the cold sunk deeper into his joints, when the screw finally fell out of its slot. He almost gasped, and he clearly heard the screw make a dull ‘clunk’ when it hit the bottom of the tub, just next to his hip. He just about had a fit then and there when the door guard’s helm lifted up from the datapad he’d been looking at. 

“What was that sound?” the mech asked.

The other turned from where he had his servos underneath the solvent, the mech being bathed looking miserable beneath him.

“What?” 

“I heard something.”

The guard rose, looking towards the direction he’d heard the noise. Towards Red Alert.

He walked over, glancing into the bath of the mech beside him. With as little movement as possible, Red Alert snagged the screw between two digits and slid it into the slot between his armor and protoform. It jabbed him painfully, and Red Alert prayed it wouldn’t puncture his protform and make him bleed. It would all be up then.

The guard glanced into his bath not a moment later, reaching down into the solvent and nudging Red Alert’s servo to check that it was empty. Satisfied, he withdrew and flicked the dripping cleanser into Red Alert’s face. Red Alert blinked and shook his helm, hiding his glare. 

Bath time was concluded soon after.

*****

Red Alert huddled in the corner with his back to the room. He hated to leave himself so vulnerable to the guard’s attacks, but he had to hide his treasure. The screw was long and thin, but very sharp at the end.

It was perfect. 

Leaning gingerly onto his hip, he winced. His aft and back were both still tender from the punishment he’d received earlier in the orn. In the common room, the mech next to him had begun screaming, and had scared the living scrap out of Red Alert himself. It had been decided that he’d been the one to upset the other mech, and he’d been hauled off to his quarters for punishment. Bent across his berth and clutching desperately at his thin blanket, the strap had rained down blow after blow, from his upper back to the backs of his knee joints. It hadn’t stopped until he’d screamed his vocalizer to static.

The few times the strap had wrapped around his hip had been especially bad because it would cause the hidden screw between his plating to bite into his protoform. The screw was bloody, but sharp and useful. He was thankful for it. The pain had served to remind him of his little bit of hope. 

Bringing himself up to lay on his side on the berth, he placed his body between his servo and the camera. From the point of view of the camera, he looked to be resting and playing with the side of his berth. That much was true, he thought to himself. 

Using the sharp end of the screw, he punctured a tiny hole just underneath where his servo rested at night when he was strapped down to the berth. Slipping it into the hole, he waited for night to come.

*****

He shifted restlessly for what felt like the thousandth time. His back and aft still hurt, and his sheet was uncomfortable against the heated plating. The night guard had come in not long ago to secure him to his berth for the night. He waited for some time before he allowed himself to move, optics to their dimmest setting and staring at the camera. 

The red light blinking in the corner of his vision was always visible. It haunted him.

He worked the sharp part of the screw into the mesh strapping him to the berth, picking away at sections as quickly as he could. He would be ready.

*****

Early morning light streamed into the room from the tiny window near the ceiling. The morning guard strolled in to his room, smiling brightly. 

“Good orn, little runt! Did you recharge well?” he asked.

Red Alert remained silent as he did every orn he had to deal with this monster. 

This particular guard had been Red Alert’s personal tormentor every orn for six vorn. The mech was a nasty piece of work, always ready to give Red Alert a smack or two. He also took particular pleasure in sneaking up on him and trying to frighten him into having a glitch out. He often spoke of what he read about in the news about his family, and laughing over the fact that he had been left in this place to rot. 

No one in his family ever visited him. He was forgotten. Inferno and his carrier never even came, and Red Alert refused to believe he’d been forgotten by them as well. It was far more likely they’d been denied permission to visit. He didn’t think he could handle it if they really had left him. They were all he had.

A heavy servo clapped down on his upper thigh, rubbing up and down the length of his leg. He shivered in disgust. 

This guard enjoyed climbing into the berths of patients, but only if invited. The only part was if they refused they could expect some very imaginative punishments for their refusal. Red Alert had never allowed him in, and had suffered greatly for it. This orn however, that would change. 

He sighed heavily, making a show of looking away from the mech in ‘embarrassment’. Slowly, his spread his legs wide, and his modesty panel snapped away to reveal his dry valve. The guard stopped in surprise for a moment before a nasty smile spread across his face. 

“Well well, little mech! Why the sudden change of spark? Not that I’m complaining though…” the mech said as he placed his knee between Red Alert’s spread legs. 

The mech leaned down to press a sloppy kiss to his chassis, with one servo planted next to Red Alert’s helm. The other servo snaked down, trailing over his hip, before finally slipping to touch his anterior node. His digits slid even further, preparing to go in between the slit of his valve. 

Red Alert allowed it to get to that point before he made his move. Thrusting up his servo, he plunged the screw as deeply as he could into the soft protoform that was exposed when the mech leaned his helm back. He’d spend jours slowly picking the mesh apart and releasing his servo. Once free, it had been a massive gamble on if it would be this particular guard to come and release him. It had paid off in the end though, and no matter what, he was immensely satisfied with this particular guard’s end. 

The mech gurgled, optics wide as he stared into Red Alert’s own. Blood spilled onto his face from the growing gash in the mech’s throat. Ripping the screw free, he thrust it back in again and again, until the mech was just a weight over him. 

Pushing up, he shoved the offline body off of him to the floor beside him, and set about releasing the rest of his bonds. Once up, he grabbed the guard’s keycard and slipped out of the room. One problem dealt with. Now, he just had to get out of the asylum. 

*****

Red Alert stumbled and fell to his knees when his pede caught a bit of loose rock. The pain of the fall shocked him back awake. Six orns since he’d escaped. Six orns with nothing to eat. Six orns of being relentlessly hunted.

The asylum hadn’t taken his escape well, and they were still after him. Every time he thought he’d gotten far enough away, he’d hear the turbo hounds in the distance. He’d run for so long that his pedes were bleeding. Dragging himself back up, he trudged on, praying he’d have a chance to rest soon.

He didn’t even make it a jour before he heard the turbo hounds again. Slag it all he was never going to make it at this rate. He was too tired. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! This little mini story is done! Hope y’all liked it! The main story should be updated in a few days as well. Let’s hope at least!

Red Alert’s pede shot pain through pain up his legs all the way to his hip joints with each step. He still pushed on. Running wasn’t going to work for much longer, but he’d be slagged if he just gave up. 

The outskirts of Iacon were disgusting. Trash littered the side of the walls and bleeders and syk users were plentiful. Few paid him any mind when he ran by, but most at least glanced up when the enforcers came through with sirens blaring. He wasn’t sure what the asylum had told them, but ever since they’d joined in on the hunt, it had gotten even harder. 

The small energon crystal farm he’d raided the orn before had helped to give him a little boost, but he needed to rest.

He slowed for a moment when he caught sight of an alley branching away from the main path. Making a split decision, he threw himself into it and hid behind a large dumpster. It stank, but it might serve to cover his scent from the turbo hounds. 

Sure enough, the enforcers flew by, barley slowing. He breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Hold on, the hounds lost the scent.” 

Red Alert froze at the words, not far from his hiding spot. They must have been right outside of the entrance of the alleyway.

He waited, servo clamped over his mouth to try and keep himself quiet, and squeezed his optics shut when he heard the distinctive sound of a turbo hound snuffling about. He nearly jumped out of his plating when it howled, tossing himself away to run further down the alleyway. He prayed it wouldn’t end in a dead end. It couldn’t. He’d gotten so far!

He never did find out if it did or not. 

With the enforcers hot on his aft, he’d not paid attention to his surroundings, and when his pede stepped onto nothingness he yelped in surprise and went down hard.

He fell for entirely too long into the pitch black hole. Screaming, he only stopped when he slammed into the wall halfway down, the air pushed from his vent. When he finally landed, it was on his shoulder and arm. He heard a dull snap and couldn’t even register the pain before he plunged into unconsciousness.

*****

When he woke up, he immediately wished he hadn’t. He couldn’t hear the turbo hounds howling anymore. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything. For a moment, he feared that the fall had somehow deafened him, but when he went to sit up, the moan of pain he let out was clearly heard. 

What had started as a very bad ache in his arm became sharp and stabbing with the slightest bit of movement. Biting his glossa to avoid making more noise, tears slipped down his cheeks. He forced himself to stand anyway.

He couldn’t stay here. The enforcers might still be after him. Anything could be down here just waiting to pounce. Wherever here was…

Looking around didn’t help, the darkness being near complete. Looking up, he shuddered at the pinprick of light shining through the hole he’d fallen through. He’d fallen so far he was actually surprised he’d survived at all. Maybe that’s why the enforcers weren’t here, or trying to climb down after him. Maybe they thought he was offline. Well, that might actually be a good thing…

_ Something  _ let loose a high pitched wail a ways away to his right and he froze in fear. Glancing that way and not being able to see anything had him moving fairly quickly. He hoped he wouldn’t fall down an even deeper hole.

*****

Whatever it was that had made that sound seemed to be following him. Red Alert decided that the pain from his broken strut must be making him delirious, because instead of fear, he was simply annoyed. 

He’d finally made it away from the enforcers and the asylum guards and now he was going to get offlined by some random creature in a dark cave. Why did Primus have to hate him so much? Had he been a follower of Unicron in a past life?

Clutching his limp arm to minimize it getting jostled, he moved forward. The wail came again from behind. 

At least his optics had finally adjusted to the dark somewhat. He was in some sort of cave system, with winding thin trails and caverns so large he couldn’t even send out an MP to gage their size. Eventually, he had gotten glazed optics from seeing the same old rocks and walls, which is why he almost missed the door when he passed it. 

It was a simple thing. Reaching up to touch it, he was surprised to find it made not of metal, but of wood. Such a rare thing to find on their home planet. He let his digits run across the smooth alien material, marveling at it. The wail came again, this time so close it might as well have been right behind him.

Squeaking in fear, he glanced back while simultaneously shoving at the door. He caught sight of bright white optics staring back at him before the door gave and he fell inside the room. Pain flared up again and he shouted, clutching at his shoulder. The optics stalked closer and he used his pedes to kick the door closed. The creature slammed up against it on the other side, hard enough to make the wood groan. Jumping up, he threw the latch for the locking mechanism on the door, sighing in relief when it clicked into place. When the banging of the creature continued, he moved away from the door. 

Might as well explore this place seeing as he probably wasn’t going to be able to get back to the caves any time soon. 

Turning around, he found himself in what appeared to be an energon storage room. All coherent thoughts flew from his processor then.  _ Energon _ .

He snatched the first cube he came to, cracking the side open and taking a long swig. 

It came right back up almost immediately. Gagging, Red Alert tossed the cube down. The energon looked the right color, but must have rotted in some way. It burned his throat and tasted disgusting, leaving him light helmed.

Moving away from that stack, he tested other cubes in different stacks. Each one had the same rancid smell to it, and he’d almost given up hope when he came to the last stack, which sat neatly next to a second door. This cube smelled right, and when he sipped it lightly, it tasted perfect. He threw his helm back and sucked the cube dry. 

One became two, and then he purged a bit from the shock of energy hitting his systems. Once done, he went back and continued to drink. 

About four and a half cubes later and Red Alert finally felt full. It was marvelous. It was dizzying. He was so tired. Everything hurt. His pedes ached. He reached into his subspace and withdrew his blanket from the asylum. Laying on the floor wasn’t comfortable, but he’d a berth made up of scraplets if it meant uninterrupted recharge. 

He cradled his broken servo to ensure he didn’t roll onto it and allowed himself to relax for the first time in nine orns. 

Recharge came almost instantly. 

*****

“Hey! Hey, youngling! Wake up!” 

A pede nudged Red Alert roughly, jostling his arm. The pain of his injury was enough to finish bringing him back to wakefulness. It sucked just as much as he remembered it sucking. Then he realized there was someone else with him.

“Gah!” he shouted.

There were two mecha standing over him, both had strange wrapping around their frames, like they didn’t have any armor on. He could see that they did have armor on, at least on their chassis, so he didn’t understand why they needed wrapping. Maybe they were malformed? It wasn’t important at the moment, because the one who had woken him was holding a walking cane. Red Alert remembered getting caned across his aft back in the asylum, and the sight of one so close to him startled him up onto his pedes. 

“Who are you?!” the mech shouted, “How did you get here?!”

The second mech spoke up then, “Are you hurt little one?” 

He spoke so gently, that Red Alert paused. He couldn’t overpower them and he couldn’t run either. His helm sparked with panic and he crouched low, moaning in fear and pain. Tears welled in his optics. He’d been so close to freedom.

The first mech seemed to puff up in anger, but the second placed his servo on his friend’s shoulder. 

“He’s frightened and injured, Tenfold. Let’s get him upstairs and get that arm looked at before we go on with the interrogation, hmm?” the mech said.

And with that, the two mecha led him up flight after flight of stairs. The soft spoken mech led him with a servo on his back, and Red Alert couldn’t stop his shivering. 

Fear racked his processor, and he could feel an impending glitch. 

When they finally came to wherever they were going, the mech opened the door for Red Alert. Light blinded him and he brought his servo up to shield his optics. When he recovered, he found the source of light. 

Windows. Real windows that didn’t have bars across them. The room wasn’t very large, sporting two berths and a small cabinet. The mech instructed Red Alert to sit on one of the berths. The other mech, Tenfold, stood in the doorway. So running was still out of the question. The mech’s cane was thick and heavy looking, and Red Alert did not want to feel it’s sting unnecessarily. 

While the soft spoken mech gently prodded at his arm and administered a pain patch, Tenfold approached. 

“You’re that escapee from the asylum in Kaon,” he said.

Red Alert froze, not sure what to say. The other mech beat him to it.

“Nonsense. They are looking for an adult mech,” he said. 

“No,” Tenfold said, “He’s the one. He matches the description perfectly. Answer me youngling, are you the escapee?” 

Both mecha looked at him expectantly. 

Seeing no other option, Red Alert stared down at his lap, still shaking. No reason to lie and earn himself punishment before the asylum guards came for him.

“Yes, sir,” he said quietly, “I am.”

Both mecha stared at him. The quiet one turned, muttering what sounded like a prayer, while Tenfold continued to look at him. 

“How old are you? Why were you in a place like that?” Tenfold asked. 

“I’m not sure how old I am, sir. And… I have a glitch,” he whispered.

“A glitch? What kind of glitch?” 

“I get scared and my helm sparks if it gets really bad,” he said.

Red Alert looked up at them both. Taking in their pitying gazes, he decided to take a chance.

“Please don’t tell on me, sirs. They’ll offline me,” he said.

The two mecha glanced at one another. Tenfold didn’t look convinced. He glanced at his companion. 

“Tenfold…” the mech said.

*****

Red Alert adjusted his cloak, and glanced in the mirror, checking that he was presentable. The material felt heavy against his bare protoform, and he felt naked despite being covered by his clothes. 

  
  


Followers of Primus did not wear armor over their sparks or their intimate interface panels to show submission to their creator, instead wearing actual clothes. Red Alert didn’t much care for that part, but no one ever made him show them his nakedness, so he dealt with it. His servo was in a sling, still healing from the fall he’d taken two mega cycles back.

  
  


A sharp rap at his door sounded, and it opened as he turned to face it. Tenfold stood there, his cane clutched in his servo. 

“You’re late,” Tenfold said.

“I’m sorry, sir. I over-recharged. I won’t let it happen again.”

Tenfold merely humped, stepping forward and fixing his robe. 

“How are you settling in?”

The mech continued to baffle Red Alert. He hadn’t been beaten once since being brought here. Even after they’d found all the energon cubes he’d eaten. He learned that the bad tasting energon was actually called high grade. He’d been forbidden from touching it. There were a few places he wasn’t allowed to go, but for the most part he was allowed to roam as he wished in this place. It was still strange. There was no blinking light in the corner of his room. There were no punishments for what other mecha did. 

He didn’t know how to feel about punishments here. Tenfold was the head mech here, and Red Alert knew he was the one who dealt out punishments as well to the younglings of the order. He’d seen enough younglings leaving Tenfold’s quarters sniffling and rubbing their afts to know the mech spanked those that disobeyed, but he hadn’t gotten anything yet. Even after he’d ripped his first cloak by stepping on it by accident, he hadn’t been punished. He honestly wished he would just get something and get it over with, but the adult mecha of the order all treated him with incredible patience. 

He found that even with his own personal worries, he was becoming comfortable here. No one expected him to do hard labor, and he was allowed to recharge as much as he needed. If he wanted fuel, he simply asked for it and it was given. It was… nice. Strange, but nice. 

“I’m well, sir,” he said to Tenfold. 

Tenfold had taken him on as a charge. While they thought he had been recharging, he listened to their whispered arguments. Tenfold had agreed with Flashback, as Red Alert had later learned the soft spoken mechs name was, that they couldn’t turn him into the asylum. His injuries had spoken for themselves. 

The argument came from what to do with him. 

Eventually, Tenfold had agreed to be Red Alert’s mentor, and so now Red Alert shared a small room off of the mech’s main quarters. 

Together, the two mecha walked to the main temple to pray. Red Alert had learned a lot about Primus since coming under the tutelage of Tenfold. Kneeling, Tenfold spoke the sacred prayers, with Red Alert struggling to keep up. Tenfold never got angry when he forgot, or when his glitch acted up at the thought of one of the other worshipers recognizing him. He would merely hold his servo and remind him what to say. 

“Tenfold?” Red Alert asked.

“Yes, little one?”

“You say that Primus let’s things happen because they will affect the future?”

“Yes.”

“How does he know what will happen? How do we know what to do?”

“He just does know. And he sends us Seers to help guide us.”

“Does he know what will happen to me?”

Tenfold glanced up, looking at Red Alert. It was obviously bothering his charge.

“Don’t worry, Red Alert,” he said, “I think he’s got big plans for you. For now, be the best mech you can, and when your time comes, you’ll know what to do…”

Red Alert went back to his prayers then. He’d do his best. He’d be ready. For whatever came him way.


End file.
